What is Urinary Incontinence?

Contents

Urinary Incontinence: Introduction
Types of Urinary Incontinence
Prognosis
Complications
Prevalence
Other names for Urinary Incontinence
Who gets Urinary Incontinence?
What causes Urinary Incontinence?
What are the symptoms of Urinary Incontinence?
Organs Affected by Urinary Incontinence
Can anyone else get Urinary Incontinence?
How is it treated?
Society issues for Urinary Incontinence
Urinary Incontinence: Introduction

What is Urinary Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is a very common condition in which there is involuntary leakage or a loss of ...more »

Urinary Incontinence: Reduced ability to control urine flow.
Urinary Incontinence: failure of voluntary control of the vesical and urethral sphincters, with constant or frequent involuntary passage of urine.
Source - Diseases Database
Urinary Incontinence: inability to control the flow of urine and involuntary urination.
Source - WordNet 2.1

Urinary Incontinence: Introduction

Types of Urinary Incontinence:

Types of Urinary Incontinence:

Stress incontinence - incontinence when you cough, sneeze or exert; due to weakness of pelvic floor muscles from exercise or physical exertion
Urge incontinence - bladder emptying on its own; leakage with a sudden urge to urinate.
Functional incontinence - problems with the functional or physical ability to get to the bathroom in time.
Overflow incontinence - loss of the ability to sense when you need to urinate.
Mixed incontinence - various combinations; especially combined urge and stress incontinence
Transient incontinence - a temporary form of incontinence
Bladder Incontinence (Pregnancy) - the common incontinence of pregnant women.
Urinary incontinence in children - child bedwetting is rarely a long-term problem.
Bedwetting
Primary enuresis
Secondary enuresis
Nocturnal enuresis - during sleep at night.
Diurnal enuresis - during the day when awake.
more types...»

Broader types of Urinary Incontinence:

How many people get Urinary Incontinence?

Prevalance of Urinary Incontinence: 13 million adults (NIDDK); 1 in 10 over 65 (NWHIC).
Prevalance Rate of Urinary Incontinence: approx 1 in 20 or 4.78% or 13 million people in USA [about data]
Prevalance of Urinary Incontinence: More than 13 million people in the United States--male and female, young and old--experience incontinence. (Source: excerpt from Urinary Incontinence in Women: NIDDK) ... The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) cites studies indicating that one in four women ages 30 to 59 has experienced urinary incontinence. (Source: excerpt from What Your Female Patients Want to Know About Bladder Control: NIDDK)

Who gets Urinary Incontinence?

Profile for Urinary Incontinence: Women experience incontinence two times more often than men. Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the female urinary tract account for this difference. But both women and men can become incontinent from strokes, multiple sclerosis, and physical problems associated with old age. (Source: excerpt from Urinary Incontinence in Women: NIDDK)

Gender Profile for Urinary Incontinence: At least twice as common in women as men; perhaps as much as women 9:1 men.

How serious is Urinary Incontinence?

Prognosis of Urinary Incontinence: Behavioral changes, pelvic floor exercise therapy, and medication usually improve symptoms rather than cure stress incontinence. Surgery can cure most patients, if they are carefully selected. Treatment does not work as well in people with: Conditions that may prevent healing or make surgery more difficult, Other genital or urinary problems, Previous surgical failures
Complications of Urinary Incontinence: see complications of Urinary Incontinence

What causes Urinary Incontinence?

Causes of Urinary Incontinence: see causes of Urinary Incontinence
Risk factors for Urinary Incontinence: see risk factors for Urinary Incontinence

What are the symptoms of Urinary Incontinence?

Symptoms of Urinary Incontinence: see symptoms of Urinary Incontinence

Complications of Urinary Incontinence: see complications of Urinary Incontinence

Onset of Urinary Incontinence: Mostly occurs in the elderly due to weakness associated with increasing age

Can anyone else get Urinary Incontinence?

More information: see contagiousness of Urinary Incontinence
Inheritance: see inheritance of Urinary Incontinence

Urinary Incontinence: Testing

Diagnostic testing: see tests for Urinary Incontinence.

Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Urinary Incontinence.

How is it treated?

Doctors and Medical Specialists for Urinary Incontinence: Gynecologist, Obstetrician, Urogynecologist, Urologist ; see also doctors and medical specialists for Urinary Incontinence.
Treatments for Urinary Incontinence: see treatments for Urinary Incontinence
Alternative treatments for Urinary Incontinence: see alternative treatments for Urinary Incontinence
Research for Urinary Incontinence: see research for Urinary Incontinence

Society issues for Urinary Incontinence

Costs of Urinary Incontinence: $16.3 billion in the USA 2001 (Obstetrics and Gynecology, 98:398-406, 2001)
Costs of Urinary Incontinence: AHCPR estimates that the annual costs for caring for people with UI are $11.2 billion in the community and $5.2 billion in nursing homes. Most of this money is spent on management measures, such as pads and diapers, rather than on treatment. (Source: excerpt from What Your Female Patients Want to Know About Bladder Control: NIDDK)

Cost statistics for Urinary Incontinence: The following are statistics from various sources about costs and Urinary Incontinence:

$16.4 billion including $11.2 billion in community and $5.2 billion in nursing homes (NIDDK)
$16.3 billion was spend in direct expenditure for urinary incontinence in the US 1995 (Annual Direct Cost of Urinary Incontinence, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2001, NIDDK)
more statistics...»

Hospitalization statistics for Urinary Incontinence: The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Urinary Incontinence:

0.046% (5,838) of hospital consultant episodes were for unspecified urinary incontinence in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
96% of hospital consultant episodes for unspecified urinary incontinence required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
30% of hospital consultant episodes for unspecified urinary incontinence were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
70% of hospital consultant episodes for unspecified urinary incontinence were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
10% of hospital consultant episodes for unspecified urinary incontinence required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
more statistics...»